On the Road with Christ

Since we started the series on New Covenant grace this year, most of us have been living our faith with a new freshness. Yet, many among us remain discouraged, disappointed, and despondent about the circumstances in our lives. In this week's talk On the Road with Christ in the HSI Communites we learn how to overcome this and lead lives filled with joy and hope.

HSI Youth Band

16 youngsters crowded in my living room today for an audition for the HSI Youth Band. They made music (not noise!) together. Got two drummers, four keyboard players, six guitarists, and just about everybody can actually sing. This is awesome! :)

St. Patrick's Church, Bangalore

The three day HSI Discipleship Program concluded in Bangalore last night and was a tremendous success. Out of those present, over 150 people said they would join the HSI prayer group starting next Sunday! Isn't God wonderful? :-)

Faith and Works

 

In my very first talk on the series on New Testament Grace earlier this year I had stated the Catholic belief that all of us obtain salvation through the grace of God and no person can earn salvation. If this were indeed the case, how does it reconcile with the belief that we are saved by faith and works?

The Church has believed, since the time of Christ, that we are saved by faith and works. This was a truth accepted unanimously by all Christians for about 1500 hundred years until the Protestant Reformation took place, when Luther advanced the theory that we are saved by faith alone (Sola Fide).

 

While I was doing a little study on the protestant view of Sola Fide, however, I was astonished at how unanimous most denominations were in their opinion that faith and works (though they don’t call it that) are inseparable in any properly constituted Christian life, and I couldn’t help but wonder what we keep disagreeing about.